thisisswanbon

1 hour ago, kodiakblair said:

Naw.

 

Had an email from a SBMM manager saying it was preamp related, pretty cool; fella saw my request for advice on Talkbass 😃 

 

London shop it came from were total d**ks. First they said they'd sent a replacement bass, then changed their tune when I thanked them for sending an exact replacement ; even the ID note I'd hidden under the PG came with the the replacement 😄 That had them singing "we just replaced the preamp", b0ll0cks they'd done heehaw bar resend the same bass.

 

Was an Xmas raffle prize so they weren't prepared to ship a 3rd time, told me to pick something else up to B-stock value. 

Sounds like a shop to avoid if I'm honest! I had a similar experience with an EBMM sterling 5 that had a faulty pick up, sent away 3 times for repair with nothing done! 

If the sound issue was anything like mine then it doesn't sound pre amp related, as these are passive 😬... Good of him to message you though!

2 hours ago, Huge Hands said:

I have been playing my MB-5 that I bought last December (last purchase before Brexit) a lot this month as it may be heavy to some, but it is a lot lighter than my main Sire V7 and my back has been giving me gyp.

 

I love mine as a back up bass and it is still totally stock, apart from a set of cheap flatwounds.  My only gripe (if you can call it that) is that it seems to have sustain for days and days which is not good for me so this has been solved with a bit of foam under the strings..

 

I also miss the single volume control of the V7 but I am really clutching at straws to moan about a bass that IIRC was about £110 delivered at the time.

I wouldn't consider this a heavy bass at all to be fair, although my Jazz is an absolute boat anchor!

4 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Disassemble the tuning peg, any stripped material caught between the worm and gear will lead to further damaged.

 

Take them apart, give everything a wee clean and grease the worm gear. Reassemble, making sure the wheel is round the right way and the cogs seat into the worm spiral.

 

Regards your unbalanced E/A strings, had the same issue with a SBMM Sub. Offsetting the pickup height might help.

That's not a bad shout... I'll have a look before spending any coinage!  Did you manage to rectify the SBMM Sub issue?  I did try adjusting the pick up height last night but didn't make a massive difference in honesty.  It's almost as if the E and A aren't as direct as the other strings, almost like the difference between DI and micing a cab from a distance

1 hour ago, Bassfinger said:

You can see why I went for Wilkinson tuners very quickly!

I may be doing the same myself... I'm guessing they weren't a straight replacement though?  Were you left with holes?

Second impressions after plugging in... Sounds great, but the strings seem poorly balanced! D and G are loud and mega punchy, but the A sounds weak in comparison and the E even worse 🤔

I've adjusted action and truss rod and it's slightly better, but still not great. Could be a string thing though although the issue isn't as present acoustically.

Other issue is the A string tuner is almost unusable. You can see the paint stripping from the thread where there's friction. I didn't expect glory for just over £100, but I expect functional regardless of how much I pay. 

On 18/12/2022 at 16:36, Bassfinger said:

Good lord, no!  As stock they have nothing to be ashamed of low down, and with the Warman pickup it's like Joss Ackland clearing his throat.

Thanks for the reassurance! 

Mines just arrived, haven't plugged it in yet but initial impressions are aside from some sharp fretwork, it genuinely feels like a solid instrument and I can't work out how they've produced this at this price point! Can't wait to get her plugged in!

Anyone got their hands on one of these yet? Can't find any reviews, but I'm sure they were supposed to drop last week!

Really tempted to move my HX stomp on and grab one of these... Sorely miss my le bass!

3 hours ago, carlsim said:

I added the Warman pup to my 5 string one and that made a significant different to the tonal capabilities. I also added an Artec SE2a preamp (this has a stacked treble and bass 2 band eq and a balance and volume).

 

This made a huge difference to me in terms of tonal shaping. it was a tight squeeze and needed a bit of fettling to get in but for about £40/£50 this has made a massive difference to this bass. Admittedly the balance doesn't really need to be there but i just leave it central to select both coils. I wanted to add a series parallel switch at some point but adapting this is outside my capabilities!

 

I also defretted mine as I wanted a cheap fretless 5 and changed some of the hardware for chrome to remove that matt blackness of it! See below...

 

I also have further plans to completely reshape it into a headless bass and chamber out the body to reduce weight. Basically, mill off 5-10mm off the top, chamber out sections of the body and then glue on a new top and refinish. This would also mean refinishing the neck as well unless i can hide where i chop the headstock off! A white body with the matt black neck would look quite cool!

 

 

The headless mod sounds like it would be incredible! I always thought a headless stingray would be a glorious thing.  Where did you put the battery for the active pre-amp?  I'm tempted by the Warman mod, but think I'll see what it's like stock first.

On 13/12/2022 at 21:51, mcnach said:

 

My story is a little similar but with different outcome.

I've tried 5-string basses on and off over the years. Didn't gel with any. The MB-5 was cheap enough and I like the Stingray type of sound... but I never like 5-string basses, do I? I hesitated and my girlfriend bought it for me.

I loved it.

It was well balanced, reasonably light, and I loved that neck. Of course, it had to sound good, and it did. I considered putting a preamp in there to make it more like a 5-string version of my main bass... but I enjoyed the passive controls. So much, that I just kept playing it and I finally 'clicked' with the 5-string and now I am "ambidextrous" 😝 

 

The MB-5 led to a couple more Harley Benton 5-stringers, a JJ and a PJ (JJ55OP and JP55OP), and more recently a Ray35, so I get the versatility of the preamp for when I want that stuff, and the MB-5 for others. 

 

Aaanyway, I sound like grandpa and his stories... To answer the OP, I've kept mine stock. I'm not shy when it comes to mod instruments, most of my guitars aren't stock. But sometimes an instrument just fills a niche as it is and I don't want to change a thing. The MB-5 is one of them. The one thing I'm tempted to change is the bridge. Not that there's anything too wrong with the existing one, I just would like a slightly wider spacing and the fingerboard is wide enough to allow that... but I'm not in a hurry.

 

Oh, I lied! It's not stock... I didn't like he tortoise-shell effect type pickguard and had a matt black one made:

 

 

That scratch plate looks great!  I'd love to exchange the bridge when mine comes, those big back plate bridges without the retaining posts next to the saddles just don't do it for me.

Thanks for all of the info guys... mine hasn't come yet but I'm pretty excited about it.  I did seem to read a lot of bad reviews AFTER I'd ordered it, but I'll stay open minded until it arrives.  Was thinking of either an Aguilar or Warman pick up depending on how the pick up sounds, I think it's a given that the tuners will need changing.  I've read a lot that they're short of low end, have any of you experienced this?

Hey all!

I've pulled the trigger on one of the Harley Benton passive stingray clones... For £121 delivered they seem an absolute steal!  I'm thinking even with a new pick up and tuning pegs it's going to be cheaper than a SBMM sub ray 4.

Not a lot of info on modding these online... Anyone got one? If so, did you change anything?!

22 hours ago, Twunkbass said:

My one issue with the helix is the frankly bonkers settings that most devises are on by default, makes comparing amps/pedals almost impossible. Can I just have a flat eq on stuff ?! 

 This is very true!  I haven't heard one stock setting that's useable!  

John Willis from Dr Tone's lab has come up with some "balanced" EQs for the bass amps, but I always find them too trebly/Mid scooped.  More surprising though is that a customer has had to do this rather than the company themselves, poor showing really.

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

That sounds like a limitation of the Stomp. I'm pretty sure you can do what you want with the full Helix Floor (or Rack).

I wonder if panning both paths left and right and using one out for mixer and the other for amp would be a work around 🤔. I'd go ampless for convenience, but we don't always use subs in our set up.  That, and I love my current amp set up and am pretty sure I'd miss it.

4 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I think the other thing you need to consider is the trade-off (if there is one) between the convenience of having a suitable sound for each part of every song in a single unit and just a single footswitch press away versus having exactly the sound you want but with a more complex pedal board, and also if you can tell the difference between the two in the context of the overall band sound anyway.

 

Before I switched to programmable multi-effects units, I found I was compromising my live sound anyway, because it was more convenient to simply have one distortion/chorus/flanger setting for the whole set even if it wasn't necessarily the best one for each individual song (or even section of the song). 

Fortunately I'm not a heavy effects user... half of our set is done with solo'd octaver which my 3 leaf octabvre covers, and the rest is done with specific C4 patches or clean bass.  I do use a hotwax pedal for a couple of sections of songs to give a boost and bit of dirt and a sovtek deluxe of fuzz infrequently.  It would be great if it covered those, but from what I remember this is where I soured on the stomp last time I had one.

Far better players than myself get great results with this, so I don't doubt that it's me that's the issue though.  I think some heavy youtubing is in order!

Thanks for the advice, folks! 

I think a bit of perspective change is needed for me to be honest.  I've always thought that it instantly had to replace at least my drive pedals to be any good.  In reality though, it's replacing a sansamp VTDI that I didn't get along with, and I was happy for that to be nothing more than an FOH DI with parallel to my amp. In this context, there's no reason why the stomp can't do the job and then some. 

I do wish that the parallel out didn't rely on the FX loop though, as I don't want my external effects to go through the compressor block I've got on there.

May be a bit late to the party here, but I had a stomp earlier in the year and moved it on as I couldn't shake the digital "flatness"...

Obviously all you folks on this thread have had far more success than I had with the helix gear and I'm thinking of taking another dip!

Do any of you miss your analogue gear, and what are your secrets to overcoming the digital quality? Torn between a stomp or the Two tones revolt that comes out next month, but the stomp seems much better value!

On 13/11/2022 at 15:24, BassAdder60 said:

I had the LBT for a while and it’s one of nicest Orange amps with a tube like feel 

Very loud for a 500w head and simple effective EQ control and a superb Optical Compressor which added grit the more it was increased 

 

There is an Orange bag that fits it ( not made for the LBT ) so if you need one I can look up the one I found that Orange recommended 

 

here you  go found it ..,

 

https://orangeamps.com/product/gig-bags/

 

Pedalbaby / LBT

 

That seems to be a pretty accurate description, going off my 1 gig with it 🙂.  I couldn't believe the volume of it compared to my 1000w mark bass head I'd had before either.  I really thought I might struggle with the limited functionality of it, but thinking about it, what else do you really need in an amp head?!

Thanks for linking the bag!  I'm hoping my MB bag I bought for the vintage 1000 will fit, otherwise I'm stuck with a £60 bag for nothing.  If it's no good then I'll certainly order the orange bag!

So my Mark bass LM Vintage 1000 (which I loved) has gone the journey. Nothing wrong soundwise, but the input jack fitting crumbled and apparently the part had to come from Italy! Rather than wait a month for repair, Andertons agreed to do an exchange 👍

Enter... Orange Little Bass Thing!

Possibly even more of a eureka moment than the mark bass was! Less bloated on the low end, arguably closer to a tube sound than the MB (which had a tube pre), more immediate sounding with a tonne of weight to the note, and the compressor really adds to the heft. It just felt so easy to dial in a great tone, with minimal adjustments.

It's rated 500W, but volume was massive with the dial at 9 o clock, so either the MB was a bit generous with its numbers or this is hugely more efficient.

Only issues with it are notched controls rather than continuous... Not sure why that'd be it a thing but it'll take some adjusting to.

Also, if I was a bass>cable>amp guy, I'd have that compressor dimed, as it's absolutely magic! But half of my set is played with a solo'd octaver quite high in the mix, and I think it was a bit agressively compressing the notes on D and G above 12th when engaged. Rather than knock heads off as they normally would, they just vanished. I had it set at about 1 o clock, so I'll have to check that out next gig. It has a big impact on overall volume, so not something I want to fiddle with mid gig.

As it was nearly £300 cheaper than the MB, I also got a sansamp VT DI for ampless gig and desk feed. Sounds great through headphones, but the Little Bass Thing did all the heavy lifting last night, so time will tell on that...

Anyhoo... What a great little amp, for what feels like a bargain considering the quality of tone!

I meant if you physically change one of the knobs by accident while changing the lower ones on the fly and then long press without realising you've done it.  It would be much more beneficial to be able to change all 4 controls though.

I'd have preferred 6-8 smaller self assignable knobs like the Bananana Matryoska, but no doubt there'd be as many people put off by that... can't please everyone 🤷‍♂️

2 minutes ago, stewblack said:

I have had a breakthrough!

I found on the desktop editor a knob assign setting. It's near the bottom and only appears to affect two of the on pedal controls, the bottom two. Labelled appropriately in the C4 but not on the Spectrum, but they're the same. I select input gain for control 1 and master for control 2 and any discrepancy in the output is easily corrected on the fly.

Any failure to prompt the envelope can be adjusted on control 1. 

It's very satisfying.

I do the same thing, except I adjust the low end EQ instead of input gain with control 1.  The only issue with this is if you catch one of the other controls without realising and then overwrite your preset (which I've done more than once 🤦‍♂️) 

Hey All!

Pretty much as the title suggests... This is both an issue I have and something that I think would be useful all around, I can't be the only one with this conundrum!

I'm lucky enough to have a mega and hugely loud amp (MB vintage 1000 and Barefaced BTII), but for overall mix and consistency I DI to the desk and use my amp for stage monitoring and balance when we're on a single sub set up...

As with most players these days, I use various drives, fuzzes and saw wave synth effects, which sound great through my cab but too fizzy through the desk.

First I thought cab sim, but that'd ruin the cab sound... then I thought set the DI post EQ and turn the top end down on the amp, but then the cab sound is affected and too dark. The dual output modellar approach seems to be an idea, but I'm just not convinced by digital modelling yet. My HX stomp swiftly got moved on.

Has anyone got a work around for this? How did you find harmony between your on stage and FOH sounds???

I traded back a bass that I previously overlooked if that counts?

Traded my (heavily modified) Sandberg Cali VTII for a nordy cat bass back in the summer as I didn't click with it in 5 years I'd owned it from new (hence the mods). Enjoyed the cat bass but was always scared of breaking it as I'm a heavy dude with some heavy bass throwage on stage.

Long story longer, Got GAS for a preamp pedal (Origin bassrig) and put it up for sale.  The original owner of the cat dropped a message to trade back as he missed the Acinonyx so thought "why not?". 

I now see my Sandberg in a completely new light. I still think the PJ pick up config is too close together to get the known PJ sound, but when the P is solo'd its just the great, growly, mid heavy P that plays like it was made for me. Video from first gig back with it... 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CknZWrMoKj0/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Some lovely knobs on the go here! 

I must admit; mine were far more hassle to get a hold of than they were worth, but I do like them!

Howdy all, not sure if this is a bass guitar, effects, or accessories issue but hear me out!

So I recently took on a 2017 MIM Fender jazz deluxe; and while it's a boat anchor, it's a thing of beauty and tremendous all around.

It's the one with the active 18v 3 band eq and active/passive switch, and if there was one thing I'd change on it, that'd be it! The pre is a bit lacking. There's no passive tone control, there's still quite a bit of top end even at full treble cut, and it sort of feels a bit one dimensional compared to passive.

With previous basses, I've always bought passive, or converted to passive (ibby ehb excluded) as I prefere the immediate weight and responsiveness of a passive bass. This one feels a bit more important though with the inherent mid scoop and thin-ness that comes with a jazz.

Long story longer, is there an active pre out there with the responsiveness of a passive bass, that'll also allow a control to double as a passive tone in passive mode? If not, am I better off looking at an external EQ pedal? Any advice from the absolute fountain of knowledge that is the basschat community would be much appreciated!

On 12/10/2022 at 14:08, Vin Venal said:

Pedalboard update.

 

Signal splitting shenanigans - into the EQ and back for clean low end, mixed with the RAT to taste for my main overdrive/distortion tone.

 

Into the 850 fuzz for DOOM.

 

Then the chorus and delay in the FX loop.

 

The behringer will be replaced with a boss GEB7 when I can afford/find a cheap used one.

 

The 850 fuzz is in danger of being replaced with a different mini big muff type thing at some point - can be hard to dial in a tone for bass on the ibanez.

 

I play my Precision through this into a Darkglass head which provides my "clean" tone, which also has some hair on it using the built in VMT circuit.

 

It sounds frankly insane for not very much money.

Why are you looking to replace the behringer with a Boss unit?  Is there something sound wise or function wise that doesn't cut it with the behringer?  I ask for no other reason than I'm thinking a bass EQ pedal is the solution to my jazz bass not having a passive tone control

I've always done this by ear.  I set the blend to fully clean and make sure the patch output is unity or there abouts to disengaged volume, then get the sound I want and look at setting my volume based on the job I'm doing with said patch.

(Genuine answer, apologies if this comes off condescending... not intended at all.)